In the global market debacle, movie theaters that adopted a dynamic pricing concept are significantly standing out

The data collected by Cinetel in 2017 regarding the situation of the Italian film market reflects a condition that gives cause for concern: box office sales have decreased by 11,63% and attendance has dropped by 12,38%.

This is the second worst result in 5 years, both in terms of attendance and sales, after the season of 2014. The whole industry is deeply concerned by this evidence and the
causes of such a debacle can be traced back to two main factors: the poor offer of blockbuster movies during summer and the lack of success of the Italian cinema industry (-44% in sales and 89 million euros in lost profits).

On the contrary, quite reassuring figures are emerging from the Dynamitick Index (based on the average of the results collected from approximately 150 Italian movie theaters that have adopted the dynamic pricing concept offered by Dynamitick technology).Movie theaters that provide a dynamic pricing system have seen an increase in the sales of tickets of +1,37% compared to 2017 and a decrease in profits of -1,31% compared to the year before, obtaining on average a comforting +13,75% in tickets sold and +10,32% in profits against the market.

“I believe that this debacle also stemmed from a failure on behalf of the market to understand the needs and demands of the evolved consumer, who appreciates a new logic of purchase which differs from the typical logic of cinemas – said Federico Quarato, CEO of Dynamitick – Data from 2017 was also affected by five days of promotional screenings, a monthly initiative that reduced the price of movie tickets to 2 euros, concentrating budget-conscious consumers on one single day and cannibalising the rest of the month, as foreshadowed and announced by our Centre for Studies at Ciné 2016. This initiative ultimately downgraded the economical value of the cinema experience in the eyes of the millions of Italians who bought a two-euro ticket”.

Data from the clients of the Italian start-up shows that the fresh and innovative ideas that are changing the cinema exhibition industry all over the world can work and take root also in our country. As a matter of fact, dynamic pricing systems have been adopted by cinema giants such as Regal in the USA and UCI in Germany.